


Kalim, The Little Prince

by mardeliousity



Category: Le Petit Prince | The Little Prince - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Twisted-Wonderland (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional, Forgiveness, Gen, How Do I Tag, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Tried, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Bad At Tagging, Minor Kalim Al-Asim/Jamil Viper, Scarabia (Twisted-Wonderland), Sentimental, Slow To Update, Spoilers, Time Loop, Why Did I Write This?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:56:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29529510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mardeliousity/pseuds/mardeliousity
Summary: For as long as he could remember, Jamil had devoted himself to geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. He didn't know why exactly he was so hell-bent on proving that he was exceptional. All he knew was that he had to.And so, at a relatively young age, he learned to pilot aircrafts. He had flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to him during those travels.However...none of that knowledge prepared him for a sudden crash-landing at the Sahara desert.And likewise, it didn't prepare him for a life-changing encounter either.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

“HEY, LOOK! I won first place at the dance festival!” cheered a young, white-haired boy no less the age of ten. He wore a gold medallion that shimmered against the light of the sun, while his companion — on the other hand — adorned a silver one.

“Congratulations…” was the reply of his friend, a hint of bitterness laced in his words. “Much deserved…”

The two stood side by side at the center of the lilac-colored stage, but despite their proximity, one could easily tell that there was some sort of distance between them. One of them was smiling fakely as the other hurrahed in glee…

…and one of them was forced to carry the weight of the cross, while the other was blissfully unaware.

_But who is it among the two? And to begin with…who are they?_

**“Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level.”**

_Perhaps only the moon can tell._

**“I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.”**

_And perhaps this tale will forever remain at a standstill…until the moon finally decides it’s time for a change._

* * *

**[The Pilot]**

**Somewhere in the Sahara Desert**

THE ENGINE was broken. Jamil could’ve sworn that he’d checked it before he took off, but for some unknown reason, the engine was broken and he was now stranded in the middle of the Sahara.

A thousand miles away from any human habitation, with no one to rely on besides himself, and lastly — get this — scarcely enough drinking water to last a week. This was a question of life or death for him, and he knew it.

“The inside of the aircraft’s wrecked because of the crash…” the raven-haired pilot sighed, his long, side-swept bangs following the movement of his head as it drooped down in resignation. “Guess I’ll just have to sleep on the sand tonight, huh…”

For as long as he could remember, Jamil had devoted himself to geography, history, arithmetic, and grammar. He didn’t know why exactly he was so hell-bent on proving that he was exceptional. All he knew was that he had to.

And so, at a relatively young age, he began to pilot aircrafts. He had flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to him during those travels.

However…none of that knowledge prepared him for a sudden crash-landing at the Sahara desert. Likewise, it didn’t prepare him for a life-changing encounter either. But Jamil didn’t know that yet.

That night, the pilot uncomfortably slept on the cold, desert sand, unaware of what was to come.

* * *

A poke. And another poke. And another.

Something unusually warm was poking Jamil’s left cheek during his first night at the desert, making him jolt awake like a student who’d just woken up to his alarm clock.

Eyes glaring and antagonistic, he yelled out a, “Who the hell is doing that—” before stopping when his gaze met a curious pair of ruby-red orbs. The said orbs then blinked twice, making the pilot realize that he was actually staring at a living person.

Choppy white hair tucked daintily within a dark red half-turban, the stranger crouched over Jamil’s lying figure. The cold wind made his accessories and many articles of golden jewelry obey its every command. His lime-green coat was also noteworthy, for the full moon’s light made it stand out.

“Hey,” the stranger said, finally, a carefree smile painting itself onto his face. “Draw me a sheep.”

A long moment of silence passed by, only being broken afterward by Jamil’s flat and unbelieving, “What.”

“Draw me a sheep!” came the strange visitor’s immediate reply, along with a slight puff of the cheeks. “I want you to draw me a sheep!”

The pilot sat up, staring blankly at the apparition that had just emerged before him. Surely, this must be an illusion, right? Perhaps he was beginning to see things due to immense hunger, or maybe even because of exhaustion! This stranger couldn’t possibly be a part of his reality — it was just too random!

“Hey, didn’t you hear me? I asked if you could draw me a sheep!”

“Yeah, yeah. I heard you the first time!” Jamil replied with a scowl, irritation finally replacing the astonishment that was previously plastered on his face. “But—what are you doing here?”

The stranger looked at him incredulously, as if he had just been asked a foolish question. Receiving Jamil’s glare as a reply, however, the white-haired boy decided to hurry with his answer.

“If you please—” he spoke slowly, giving off the inkling that his words were a matter of great consequence. “draw me a sheep…”

Jamil decided at that moment that he had had enough of this ridiculous conversation. He stood up, patted off the sand from his pants, and hurriedly walked away from the stranger — who in return, paced towards him with the same amount of speed.

“Hey, didn’t you hear? I said I want you to draw me a shee—”

“A SHEEP! A SHEEP! I get it!” the ebony-haired pilot replied, stopping at his tracks. He took a pen and a sheet of paper from his pocket, shoved it towards the stranger, and added, “But, unluckily for you, I don’t know how to draw. Now go find someone else to draw a sheep for you and leave me be.”

The pilot’s unwanted visitor merely shoved back the paper in reply. “That doesn’t matter!” he said stubbornly. “Draw me a sheep!”

An exasperated sigh resonated throughout what might be the entirety of the Sahara desert. Begrudgingly, Jamil took back the sheet of paper and drew a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. And to this, the stranger frowned.

“I don’t want an elephant inside a boa constrictor. A boa constrictor is dangerous, and an elephant is too large,” he explained, looking at the pilot with an expression that was almost begging. “Where I live, everything is very small. What I need is a sheep. Draw me a sheep.”

And so, Jamil drew a sheep.

“That sheep looks sickly.”

Jamil drew another sheep.

“That’s not a sheep! It has horns! That’s a ram!”

Jamil drew yet another sheep.

“That sheep looks like it’s about to die.”

At that moment, Jamil had lost whatever thin patience he had before. As fast as lightning, he drew a box — just a normal-looking box — and presented it to the stranger.

“This. You see this?” he said rather dramatically, pointing at the box he just drew. “This is a box. The sheep is inside the box. Are you satisfied now?”

He was very surprised when light broke over the face of his judge, who had already had his hands on the illustration he’d just finished.

“This is exactly the way I wanted it!” said the stranger, hugging the drawing tight. “Surely, the sheep inside the box will have enough food, right?”

“Erm, yeah.”

“And enough water?”

“Yes?”

“And enough golden trinkets and accessories?”

“Why the hell would a sheep need—”

“I lived in a place where everything was very small, you see…” cut in the now-satisfied stranger, nostalgia reflecting itself onto his eyes. Jamil grimaced at the interruption. “I hope he has enough of his necessities there…”

A few minutes of silence occurred between the unlikely pair, each one spent with the stranger staring lovingly at the box and the pilot staring curiously at the stranger.

 _What a weirdo…_ thought Jamil, only realizing that he was staring a bit longer than he’d intended when his companion’s gaze once again met his.

“I believe I’ve never caught your name,” said the white-haired stranger, a serene smile carelessly forming on his lips. “My name is Kalim!”

“And I’m called Jamil,” came the pilot’s curt reply. _Kalim was a name awfully familiar to him…_

“Jamil? That’s a pretty name!” Kalim replied, hugging the illustration once again. “Thanks for drawing a sheep for me, Jamil! Thanks for giving it enough food too!”

The raven-haired pilot crossed his arms and said in a matter-of-fact tone, “Of course. It’ll have more than enough food. I gave you a really small sheep, after all.”

“It’s not that small!” Kalim replied, puffing his cheeks. His attention was soon taken by the illustration, seemingly as if he’d just seen something incredible. “Ah, look! It’s fallen asleep!”

The innocent smile on the stranger’s face was too pure and bright for Jamil to take, and so he looked away.

_That smile was too familiar._

_Everything was far too familiar._

And it was then that the pilot and the little prince became acquaintances — just as they had done before, a long, long time ago…


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamil discovers curious facts about his companion, while Kalim talks about sheep and baobabs.

**[The Pilot]**

**Somewhere in the Sahara Desert**

IT WAS with great pride that Jamil showed Kalim his aircraft — something that would have been astounding, truly, had it not been wrecked mercilessly by the impact of the crash-landing. Still, Kalim was visibly impressed, so it wasn’t that much of an embarrassment.

Apparently, Kalim wasn't all too familiar with the concept of aeronautics. It was obvious with the way he excitedly approached the aircraft and tried to take a peek inside; it seemed to be the first time he'd ever seen something like it.

“You dropped down from the sky, Jamil?” the stranger cried out. His companion only watched as he tiptoed just to take a good look of the craft's interior. “What a coincidence!”

“Yes, unfortunately,” Jamil replied, eyeing his intruder sternly. He wouldn’t want him to break anything even more, would he? “I had to crash-land when the engine broke—”

The pilot's words were put to an abrupt stop when he realized something. He stared at Kalim with widened eyes before pointing at him accusingly, like a detective in a mystery novel.

“You…did you just say… _coincidence_?”

“Yeah, I did!” Kalim cheerfully responded. He tilted his head to the side, making his golden earrings move a little. “You came from the sky, too, right? What’s your planet?”

Jamil must have looked very confused at that moment, as even Kalim managed to read the mood. He nodded in understanding.

“Ah, my bad. I was mistaken,” he apologized, gently turning towards the aircraft. “It is true that on that you can’t have come from very far away…”

And then the stranger sank into a reverie, which lasted a long time. He also took out Jamil’s illustration, at one point, and he buried himself in the contemplation of his treasure.

The raven-haired pilot soon took a step closer to his companion, watching him curiously. He had finally recovered from the shock, so it seemed. “Kalim…” he said. “do you perhaps come from a different planet?”

It was only after a reflective silence that Kalim answered.

“You know,” he muttered, looking straight into Jamil’s eyes. “The thing that’s so good about the box you gave me was that at night, the sheep can use it as its house.”

“That is so,” responded the pilot, feeling a little frustrated. _Why was he dodging his questions?_ “If you answer me properly, though, I’d give you a string that you can tie it with during the day, and a post for you to tie it to—”

Kalim appeared to be shocked by this suggestion. “Tie the sheep?! That’s such a weird idea!”

Jamil gave him a look that screamed _‘Are you kidding me?’_ before replying, “Well, if you don’t tie it, it’ll wander off somewhere and get lost.”

The stranger then broke into peals of laughter.

“Where do you think he would go, then, if he got lost?”

“Anywhere. Straight ahead of him.”

“Then it wouldn’t matter!” Kalim smiled, pointing at himself. “Where I live, everything is small!”

The pilot was about to retort smartly, but the joy suddenly disappeared from the stranger’s face. And then, with a little sadness, he spoke the following words:

“Straight ahead of him…one can only go so far…”

* * *

During his second day in the desert, Jamil learned one more fact about his strange companion — and this was that the planet he came from was scarcely any larger than a house!

“It’s so small, right?” Kalim complained as they were seated beneath the shade of the aircraft. He was eating some of Jamil's spare crackers. “You can hardly have a parade there! And that sucks…”

The raven-haired pilot squinted his eyes before he replied. “So you’re telling me…that you came from a little planet…and that you’re...a little prince?”

“Well…I never said anything about being a little prince, but sure, call me that if you want!"

"Sure, I'll call you that. But please stop grabbing my share of crackers."

"Dang."

Jamil had serious reason to believe that the planet Kalim came from was the asteroid known as B-612. This asteroid had only once been seen through a telescope, and that was by a Turkish astronomer, in 1909.

“And if we were to base it on the books of astronomy I’ve read before…” he muttered, scribbling unintelligible words onto the sand. “then this asteroid would be known as 46610 Besixdouze today…”

The little prince laughed upon hearing Jamil’s words — and understandably, Jamil found this to be insulting.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just…so funny that you’re trying to figure out where I came from.” The little prince smiled, amusement radiating on his face. “You remind me of that horned geographer I met when I went planet-hopping…”

This piece of information piqued the pilot’s interest. “There’s life on other planets too?” he asked, inching closer to his companion. "Also, stop trying to grab more crackers."

Kalim didn't seem to hear him. Instead, he said:

“Hey, it’s true that sheep eat bushes, right?”

“...Seriously, is sheep all you ever talk about?” Jamil sighed, disappointed that the prince ignored his question yet again. “But yeah, sheep do eat bushes.”

The stranger seemed pleased with this reply.

“Ah, that’s great!” he sighed, grabbing yet another cracker. Jamil slapped his hand away. “That means they eat baobabs too…”

“What.”

“It’d be great if the sheep would eat the baobabs—”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Jamil sputtered, raising his hands to catch the prince’s attention. “Baobabs are as large as castles. Even if you had a herd of elephants, they wouldn’t be able to eat a single one of them.”

Hearing this, Kalim laughed. He seemed to really like laughing.

“We can’t even hold a parade on my planet,” he said in between giggles, patting Jamil’s back. “If we had elephants there, we’d have to put them one on top of the other... Haha! You're so funny, Jamil.”

“Why did you take my words literally—ah, nevermind.” Jamil frowned. Any word he said seemed to be turned against him.

A fragile silence ensued afterward — but it didn’t last long — as the little prince soon said something strangely wise.

“Before they grow big, baobabs start little, you know…”

“That is strictly correct,” the pilot agreed. Finally, his companion was saying things that he could understand. “But why would you want the sheep to eat the little baobabs?”

“I’ll tell you all about it!” Kalim quickly replied, and he soon began to talk about the baobabs, how his small planet is infested with seeds of them, and how he has to remove them before it’s too late.

And all the while through, Jamil listened attentively — he had nothing better to do after all.

Besides, the matter of the baobabs was _indeed_ a matter of great consequence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will revolve around sunsets, sadness, and will also serve as an introduction to the little prince's past.
> 
> Also, to those who aren't familiar with "The Little Prince," I'll elaborate further about the baobabs in future chapters! The timing just seemed a bit iffy if I explained about them here. 
> 
> PS. If anyone is reading this, thank you very much.
> 
> PPS. I suck at writing dialogues.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jamil dwells a little on his past and decides that his matters of consequence were different from the prince's.

JAMIL HAD always known that he was alone. From a very young age, he knew that he never really had anyone to talk to, and he knew that no one would ever come to understand him. As such, he grew up not knowing how to express himself without holding anything back — likewise, he didn’t know how to handle the emotions of others either.

He had always been forced to do things he never really wanted to do, and no one thought that this was wrong. They all expected him to grow up exactly as they wanted him. He was raised to be good at everything…to be prepared for any situation possible.

But not so much that he’d be acknowledged for his achievements.

_He always…always had to give up everything for a certain person._

“Ah, I love sunsets!” Kalim said as they sat on top of the aircraft. The sun was setting right in front of them, and it had a fantastic red hue. “I didn’t know we had to wait that long, though. I always forget that I’m not at home. Haha! Silly me!”

Jamil only darted a glance at the little prince. He didn’t feel like he needed to reply. Rather, he didn’t want to.

“You know, there was this one time when I saw the sunset forty-four times!” the cheerful stranger continued, a bright smile on his face. “It was an amazing sight!”

 _Why is he saying all this…_ Jamil thought to himself, resting his chin on top of his palm. He couldn’t care less about how pretty the sunset was, honestly — he was too busy caring about things that were a much, graver matter of consequence.

“What of it?” the pilot replied, finally, giving the prince an unamused look before replying. “Why did you make me drop all my work just to look at the sunset now?”

“You seemed sad earlier!”

“And so?”

“One must always look at the sunset when one is so sad!” Kalim huffed. The setting sun was beginning to accentuate his silhouette, and his golden jewelry glinted in reflection to its rays. As that sight slowly unraveled before Jamil’s eyes, it was only then that he realized…

“Were you sad, then?” he asked. “On that day you saw forty-four sunsets…”

Kalim didn’t answer. 

**“The little prince, who asked me so many questions, never seemed to hear the ones I asked him.”**

Instead, he just gave Jamil a melancholic smile.

**“It was from words dropped by chance that, little by little, everything was revealed to me.”**

_“I wish Jamil could live a little more freely.”_

* * *

**[The Pilot]**

**Somewhere in the Sahara Desert**

The pilot awoke to the sound of a familiar voice — a lonely, sad voice — that spoke words foreign to him... 

They were words that he yearned to hear a long time ago. Words of hope that, over the years, he had already given up on.

_But why did he suddenly remember them?_

Jamil turned to look at the sleeping prince who lay not too far away from him. His golden accessories were glinting against the light of the moon, and his face looked peaceful; seemingly as if he was having a wonderful dream. 

At the sight of this, Jamil scoffed. He couldn't believe someone could be that carefree.

“I need to get out of here...” the pilot muttered to himself, sitting up. He quickly tied his hair into a ponytail before storming towards his aircraft. 

Time spent with Kalim had distracted him from his priorities. All this talk about sheep, planets, and baobabs... They had strayed him from the matters he ought to have resolved earlier. Spending time with this prince had no incentive at all.

_Besides, he couldn't stand seeing that ignorant smile any longer._

Jamil then set off to work, not knowing that that said smile had disappeared — in its place was a troubled frown, one reminiscent of a terrible nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This will be a short update! 
> 
> The scene after this is pretty angsty, y'see, and I'm not in the proper state of mind to write it yet. Also, I've been swamped with modules lately, so...I have to prioritize them. Haha, perhaps my matters of consequence have become adult-like too...
> 
> Anyways, the next chapter will be posted next week, hopefully! Sorry if this update seems a little out of it; I'm also not satisfied with it wwww. I hope I can get my head back in the game soon!
> 
> Thanks again if there's anyone reading this!

**Author's Note:**

> This is a Twisted Wonderland fanfic that is based on the events that transpired in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's "The Little Prince." I claim neither of them. 
> 
> I began to write this fic after rereading "The Little Prince" for the nth time. It just...struck me that the events in that classic fitted the Twst characters so much. I don't know where I'm going with this, but...I knew that I just had to try writing it. As talentless as I might be.
> 
> If anyone's reading this, I implore you to read "The Little Prince" when you have the chance! You definitely won't regret it, and...should you read it, I hope that you discover the same things I discovered too.
> 
> Much thanks!


End file.
